Methods and systems for generating holographic animations

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are described herein for improved techniques for consuming and interacting with media content. Specifically, the media guidance application may generate holographic animations that move from a holographic structure from which a user has selected a media asset and direct the user to a display device capable of presenting the media asset. For example, in response to a user selecting a baseball movie from a holographic bookcase, the media guidance application may generate for display a holographic baseball that is “thrown” from the bookcase to a television that will present the baseball movie.

BACKGROUND

Media content is increasingly available on a plurality of user devices(e.g., televisions, smartphones, computers, etc.). However, while manyof these devices allow users to input commands using various methods(e.g., physical buttons, touchscreens, voice recognition, etc.), thedevices are nonetheless limited to presenting content via a traditionaldisplay screen. While some traditional devices and input schemes may besuitable for many types of content, users are increasingly interested inother ways of consuming and interacting with media content.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, methods and systems are described herein for improvedtechniques for consuming and interacting with media content.Specifically, a media guidance application may present holographicrepresentations (e.g., through the use of wearable electronics such asan optical user device) of media listings for media assets that areconsumed in traditional formats. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display holographic structures (e.g.,bookcases, movie posters, store shelves, etc.) that feature a pluralityof non-holographic media assets. Moreover, the media guidanceapplication may generate holographic animations that move from theholographic structure and direct the user to a display device capable ofpresenting the media asset. For example, in response to a user selectinga baseball movie from a holographic bookcase, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display a holographic baseball that is“thrown” from the bookcase to a television that will present thebaseball movie.

To determine the path along which the baseball will be “thrown,” themedia guidance application may determine the coordinates of holographicstructure in relation to the coordinates of a display device that willpresent the selected media asset. Based on the coordinates, and/or thetrajectory of a user interaction that selected the media asset, themedia guidance application may generate a holographic animation thattravels between the holographic structure and the display device.Furthermore, the holographic animation may travel in a non-linear path.For example, the path of the holographic animation may arc or curvebased on the type of animation, user interaction, etc. For example, aholographic animation featuring leaves may follow a non-linear path asthe leaves are “blown” from the holographic structure to the displaydevice.

In some aspects, a media guidance application may generate for displayholographic media content at a first location. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine a user's line of sight and generatefor display a holographic structure (e.g., a bookcase, file cabinet,etc.) along that line of sight. In some embodiments, the first locationmay be keyed to a particular physical structure (e.g., a wall of a roomin which the user is currently situated). Furthermore, the holographicstructure may be sized and shaped to appear to be physically touchingthe physical structure (e.g., hanging on the wall).

The media guidance application may detect a user interaction at thefirst location selecting a portion of the holographic media content. Forexample, the media guidance application may monitor for a hand of a userentering coordinates associated with the holographic structure and/ormay monitor for a portion of the holographic structure on which the useris currently focusing. For example, if the media guidance application ispresenting a holographic structure in the form of a bookcase, in whicheach holographic book in the holographic bookcase corresponds to aparticular media listing, the media guidance application may determinewhich holographic book the user selected.

The media guidance application may determine a media asset associatedwith that portion. For example, in order to allow a user to more easilynavigate content, the media guidance application may present listingsfor available media assets within a holographic structure that providesan intuitive holographic interface. For example, the holographicstructure may appear as a bookshelf featuring books arrangedalphabetically, in which each book corresponds to an available mediaasset. In another example, the holographic structure may appear as afile cabinet featuring files arranged alphabetically, in which each filecorresponds to an available media asset.

The media guidance application may cross-reference the media asset witha database listing holographic animations associated with various mediaassets to determine a holographic animation associated with the mediaasset. For example, each media asset may correspond to a uniqueanimation, in which the unique animation is based on the content of themedia asset. For example, a crime drama may feature an animation withmoving police cars, a horror movie may feature an animation with astalking monster, etc. To determine a holographic animation associatedwith the media asset, the media guidance application may reference alook-up table database listing the animation that corresponds to eachmedia asset.

The media guidance application may then determine a trajectory for theholographic animation from the first location to a second location, inwhich the second location includes a display device for presenting themedia asset to a user. For example, after selecting a holographicanimation, the media guidance application may determine a path alongwhich the animation should travel. The path may correspond to a pathbetween a holographic structure the user is interacting with and adisplay device upon which the user will consume the media asset.

The media guidance application may then generate for display theholographic animation along the trajectory. For example, in response toselecting “Star Wars” from a holographic bookcase, a holographicanimation of the Millennium Falcon may appear to fly towards the displaydevice. In another example, in response to selecting “The Wizard of Oz”from the holographic bookcase, a holographic animation of tornado mayappear to blow towards the display device.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select thesecond location from a plurality of locations based on a format of thedisplay device corresponding to a format of the media asset. Forexample, in response to selecting a video file, a holographic animationassociated with the video file may appear to move towards a television.In another example, in response to selecting an audio file, aholographic animation associated with the audio file may appear to movetowards a stereo. In yet another example, in response to selecting ahigh definition media asset, a holographic animation associated with themedia asset may appear to move towards all display devices capable ofpresenting the media asset.

In some embodiments, to determine the trajectory for the holographicanimation from the first location to a second location, the mediaguidance application may determine a direction and distance from thefirst location to the second location. For example, the media guidanceapplication may ensure that the holographic animation appears to move ina direction towards a display device and appears to move the completedistance to the display device. In some embodiments, the trajectory mayalso be affected by the user interaction. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine a speed or direction associated withthe user and modify the speed or trajectory of the holographic animationaccordingly. For example, a more forceful swipe of a portion of theholographic content may result in a faster holographic animation than aless forceful swipe.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may also determine adisplay device from a plurality of available display devices based onthe user interaction. For example, a more forceful swipe of a portion ofthe holographic content may result in the media guidance applicationselecting a display device that is farther away than a display devicethat would be selected if the swipe was less forceful. In anotherexample, a swipe of a portion of the holographic content in a firstdirection may result in the media guidance application selecting adifferent display device than if the swipe was in a second direction.

It should be noted, the systems and/or methods described above may becombined with, applied to, or used in accordance with, other systems,methods and/or apparatuses discussed both above and below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of a media guidance display thatmay be presented in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows another illustrative example of a media guidance displaythat may be presented in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment device inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is an illustrative example of a viewing area featuring aholographic animation moving along a trajectory towards a display devicein accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 is an illustrative example of a user interaction selecting aportion of holographic media content in accordance with some embodimentsof the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is an illustrative example of a component used to determine alocation at which a user is focusing in accordance with some embodimentsof the disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for generating for display aholographic animation in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure; and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for selecting a path of aholographic animation based on components of a trajectory associatedwith the user interaction and components of a trajectory associated withthe location of a display device in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Methods and systems are described herein for improved techniques forconsuming and interacting with media content. Specifically, a mediaguidance application may present holographic representations (e.g.,through the user of wearable electronics such as an optical user device)of media listings for media assets that are consumed in traditionalformats. For example, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay holographic structures (e.g., bookcases, movie posters, storeshelves, etc.) that feature a plurality of non-holographic media assets.Moreover, the media guidance application may generate holographicanimations that move from the holographic structure and direct the userto a display device capable of presenting the media asset.

As used herein, “a media guidance application,” refers to an applicationthat provides a form of media guidance through an interface that allowsusers to view, navigate, and/or modify media content. Interactive mediaguidance applications may take various forms depending on the content.One typical type of media guidance application is an interactivetelevision program guide. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may be provided as an on-line application (i.e., provided ona website), or as a stand-alone application on a server, user device,etc. Various devices and platforms that may implement the media guidanceapplication are described in more detail below. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application and/or any instructions for performing any ofthe embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computer readablemedia. Computer readable media includes any media capable of storingdata. The computer readable media may be transitory, including, but notlimited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals, or may benon-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile and nonvolatilecomputer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk, floppy disk, USBdrive, DVD, CD, media card, register memory, processor caches, RandomAccess Memory (“RAM”), etc.

Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, advertisements, chat sessions, socialmedia, applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may also presentmedia guidance data. As referred to herein, the phrase, “media guidancedata” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any data relatedto content, such as media listings, media-related information (e.g.,broadcast times, broadcast channels, titles, descriptions, ratingsinformation (e.g., parental control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.),genre or category information, actor information, logo data forbroadcasters' or providers' logos, etc.), media format (e.g., standarddefinition, high definition, 3D, etc.), advertisement information (e.g.,text, images, media clips, etc.), on-demand information, blogs,websites, and any other type of guidance data that is helpful for a userto navigate among and locate desired content selections.

In some embodiments, media content may be presented in a holographicand/or virtual form. In general, holography is a technique which enablesthree-dimensional images to be made. It involves the use of a laser,interference, diffraction, light intensity recording and suitableillumination of the recording. The image changes as the position andorientation of the viewing system changes in exactly the same way as ifthe object were still present, thus making the image appearthree-dimensional.

For example, a media guidance application may generate for display(e.g., via a holographic interface) holographic media content such as amedia guide structured as a three-dimensional object (e.g., a cube) thatmay feature one or more portions that may be rotated, opened, closed,rearranged, and/or otherwise modified in order to access additionalholographic media content (e.g., a holographic movie, advertisement,etc.). In addition, generating holographic content at a holographicinterface, the media guidance application may send or receiveholographic content presented on a first holographic interface to orfrom a second holographic interface.

Holographs may be generated for display through the use of holographicinterfaces using numerous techniques. In one example, a hologram iscomposed of light interference patterns recorded on a medium (e.g., aholographic film). To generate the light interference patterns on thefilm, a light source is split into multiple beams and scattered off anobject and a recording medium. As a result of the scattering, the lightbeam becomes out of phase, which gives rise to holographic “fringes”recorded in the medium. When light is subsequently applied to the mediumat a holographic interface, the fringes provide three-dimensional depth.As used herein, a “holographic interface,” is any device capable ofgenerating for display holographic media content. For example, in someembodiments, a holographic interface may include user devices (e.g., acable box, a wearable electronic device such as a pair of smart glassesor a smart watch, a television, a smartphone, a computer, a tablet, anart piece, a household electronic device, etc.) that may incorporate anappropriate medium for generating a display of holographic mediacontent.

By using a recording medium that is dynamically updatable (e.g., mayreproduce multiple recorded light fields in series), a media guidanceapplication may generate a holographic media asset at a holographicinterface. Photorefractive polymers, which may be used as dynamicallyupdatable recording mediums are described in greater detail in Blancheet al., “Holographic three-dimensional telepresence using large-areaphotorefractive polymer,” Nature, 468, 80-83 (Nov. 4, 2010), which ishereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

The creation and manipulation of holograms is also discussed in greaterdetail in Marlow et al., U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2012/0090005, publishedApr. 12, 2012; Lawrence et al., U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2011/0251905,published Oct. 13, 2011; Salter et al., U.S. Patent Pub. No.2013/0321462, published Dec. 5, 2013; and Jensen et al. U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/961,145, filed Aug. 7, 2013; which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

In some embodiments, content may be presented as virtual. Virtualcontent refers to content that does not physically exist, or does nothave a physical relationship to an object that physically exists, but ismade to appear to be physically existing, or made to appear to have aphysical relationship to an object that physically exists, by the mediaguidance application. For example, the media guidance application maypresent content that appears to be a physically existing object (e.g., abookcase, a file cabinet, a shelf, a cabinet, art work, etc.) overlaidon an actual physically existing object (e.g., a real world wall, table,floor, ceiling, billboard, etc.) or floating freely before a user.Furthermore, the media guidance application may present content thatappears to a user to be fixed to the physically existing object. Forexample, the media guidance application may present a virtual displayscreen such that the display screen appears to be incorporated into aphysically existing wall.

In some embodiments, content is given the appearance of physicallyexisting (i.e., being virtual) through the use of user optical devices.As referred to herein, a “user optical device” is an opticalhead-mounted display through which a user may perceive both physicallyexisting content and content generated by the media guidanceapplication. For example, a user optical device may be fashioned astraditional headwear (e.g., glasses, visors, goggles, masks, etc.) thatincludes heads-up display features. Each user optical device features aheads-up display (i.e., a transparent display that presents data withoutrequiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints) that allows auser to perceive both physically existing objects (e.g., real worldobjects) and virtual objects (e.g., objects generated by the mediaguidance application that appear to be physically existing). Typically,the heads-up display is incorporated into the lens (or a correspondingfeature) of the user optical device such that a user may perceivevirtual content anywhere within the field of vision of the user (andvirtual content may be overlaid on any object within the field of visionof the user).

Additional disclosure of embodiments related to the presentation ofvirtual content using optical user devices is described in Klappert etal., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/143,899, filed Dec. 30, 2013,which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. It should benoted that throughout this disclosure embodiments related to holographicmedia content may also be applied to virtual content and/or any othertype of media content.

In some embodiments, holographic interfaces and user optical devices maybe referred to as user equipment devices. As referred to herein, thephrase “user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,”“electronic device,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,”or “media device” should be understood to mean any device, includinguser optical devices, for accessing the content described above, such asa television, a Smart TV, a set-top box, an integrated receiver decoder(IRD) for handling satellite television, a digital storage device, adigital media receiver (DMR), a digital media adapter (DMA), a streamingmedia device, a DVD player, a DVD recorder, a connected DVD, a localmedia server, a BLU-RAY player, a BLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer(PC), a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a WebTV box, a personalcomputer television (PC/TV), a PC media server, a PC media center, ahand-held computer, a stationary telephone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a mobile telephone, a portable video player, a portable musicplayer, a portable gaming machine, a smart phone, or any othertelevision equipment, computing equipment, or wireless device, and/orcombination of the same.

In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facingscreen and a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multipleangled screens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may havea front facing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these userequipment devices, users may be able to navigate among and locate thesame content available through a television. Consequently, mediaguidance may be available on these devices, as well. The guidanceprovided may be for content available only through a television, forcontent available only through one or more of other types of userequipment devices, or for content available both through a televisionand one or more of the other types of user equipment devices. The mediaguidance applications may be provided as on-line applications (i.e.,provided on a web-site), or as stand-alone applications or clients onuser equipment devices. Various devices and platforms that may implementmedia guidance applications are described in more detail below.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may also presentcontent through the use of a camera and/or projector. For example, aholographic projector may cause holographic media content to appear at aparticular location. The media guidance application may then determinewhether or not the content is modified (as discussed below) in responseto detecting user interactions at that location.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may monitor the userand/or area about the holographic interface for user interactions thatmay cause the media guidance application to execute a media guidancefunction. As used herein, a “media guidance function” refers to anyfeature, operation, or service related to the consumption of a mediaasset and/or media guidance data by one or more users.

For example, a media guidance function may refer to the presentation,selection, modification, and/or manipulation of media content, includingbut not limited to holographic media content. For example, whilepresenting holographic media content, the media guidance application maydetect touch and grab gestures and modify the holographic media contentsuch that a user can virtually interact with the content. For example,the holographic media content (e.g., movie listings, television showrecommendations, etc.) may appear as items organized in a dresser ofmultiple drawers. The media guidance application may modify theholographic media content such that a user can open and close thedrawers to reveal accessible content (e.g., additional content relatedto a movie listing). In another example, the media guidance applicationmay present portions of a holographic guide as a bookcase and/or shelfwith holographic media content identified by text on the side (e.g., thespine of a book) of each holographic book. In yet another example, themedia guidance application may present the holographic content in a cubeformation in which the planes in a grid are the top levels of a mediaguidance screen (e.g., as discussed below in relation to FIG. 1).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may add/remove oneor more portions of holographic media content (e.g., a scene withobjectionable content) based on a parental control setting thatindicates the portion violates a rating, filter setting, etc. In anotherexample, the media guidance application may add holographic subtitles,additional content, recommendations, advertisements, etc., that appearoverlaid on holographic media content and/or any other content.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may allow users topull out the holographic media content and float multiple items in frontof themselves individually or layer them on top of one another withspace in between to see the titles/images of the multiple items. Themedia guidance application may also cause the items to maintain a setposition or to fan out, rotate, and/or expand (e.g., in a stair stepfashion). The holographic media content may also be displayed in variousshapes and/or organizational schemes. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display holographic media content thatincludes a grid (e.g., resembling a periodic chart) that lists mediacontent (e.g., television programs) or other products (e.g., availablefor sale), viewing recommendations based on one or more virtual orphysically existing objects (e.g., based on an automatic detection ofthe objects and/or a user selection of the objects), etc.

The media guidance application may also respond to other userinteractions such as gestures that draw a shape over all desired drawersto highlight (e.g., with a glowing, moving, and/or dashed line),flipping and/or flicking the tops of holographic media content listingsback and forth (e.g., similar to the actions done in a filing cabinet),tap particular positions on the holographic media content to accessparticular content, and/or any other appropriate gestures.

In another example, a media guidance function may include the displayand/or selection of an advertisement and/or purchase of a product. Forexample, using a holographic interface, a media guidance application maygenerate interactive content and/or T-Commerce applications that allowusers to extract predetermined content from within a media asset(whether or not the media asset itself is holographic). The mediaguidance application may then generate for display holographic mediacontent that a user may investigate further. The media guidanceapplication may further allow a user to virtually “touch and feel” theholographic media content by modifying the size, orientation, etc., ofthe holographic media content in response to detected user interactions.For example, the media guidance application may allow users to virtuallyopen and close doors on products, virtually try on clothes (e.g.,overlay clothing, shoes, glasses, etc.) on a hologram of a user (e.g.,retrieved from a user profile) or on the actual user, and/or accessother content or features (e.g., holographic shopping carts, wish lists,birthday lists, etc.) associated with a product or an advertiser.

In another example, a media guidance function may refer to a performanceof a fast-access playback operation on a holographic media asset. Asreferred to herein, the phrase “fast-access playback operations” shouldbe understood to mean any operation that pertains to playing back anon-linear media asset at faster than normal playback speed or in adifferent order than the media asset is designed to be played, such as afast-forward, rewind, skip, chapter selection, segment selection, skipsegment, jump segment, next segment, previous segment, skipadvertisement or commercial, next chapter, previous chapter or any otheroperation that does not play back the media asset at normal playbackspeed. The fast-access playback operation may be any playback operationthat is not “play,” where the play operation plays back the media assetat normal playback speed.

In another example, a media guidance function may refer to the sharingof holographic media content. For example, in some embodiments, a mediaguidance application may generate for display holographic media contentat a first holographic interface and detect a first user interaction atthe first holographic interface associated with a portion of theholographic media content. The media guidance application may thendetermine a trajectory associated with the first user interaction andidentify a second holographic interface associated with the trajectory.In response to identifying the second holographic interface associatedwith the trajectory, the media guidance application may instruct thesecond holographic interface to generate for display the portion of theholographic media content.

For example, the media guidance application may detect a userinteraction (e.g., a hand motion associated with pushing or throwing anobject) within a particular proximity of a portion of holographic mediacontent. Based on this user interaction, the media guidance applicationmay perform a media guidance function associated with the userinteraction (e.g., presenting a media asset).

As used herein, a “trajectory” of a user interaction refers to a paththat an object follows through space. For example, a holographicanimation may appear to travel according to a particular trajectory.Furthermore, this trajectory may be defined by one or more components.For example, a trajectory associated with a user interaction may bedefined by the velocity, direction, etc., of the hand of a user when theuser “touches” a portion of holographic media content. As used herein, a“component” of the trajectory refers to any characteristic that mayaffect the trajectory. For example, components may include the speed orvelocity, the direction or angle, and/or any other measurement that mayaffect the trajectory.

In some embodiments, the components of a trajectory are determined atthe instant a user “touches” holographic media content (i.e., when thecoordinates associated with a portion of holographic media contentoverlap coordinates associated with a hand of a user). In someembodiments, the components of a trajectory may also be based on thecharacteristics of a user interaction before or after “touching” theportion of the holographic media content. For example, acceleration ofthe hand of the user prior to “touching” the portion of the holographicmedia content may also affect the determined trajectory.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may modify thepresented content in response to user interactions. For example, if themedia guidance application presents holographic media content that isassociated with a particular real world object (e.g., a wall, table,etc.), the media guidance application may monitor the actions of a userrelative to the real world object. If the user contacts the real worldobject and/or performs other actions within the vicinity of the realworld object, the media guidance application may determine whether ornot the contact and/or actions cause a corresponding change to theholographic media content. If so, the media guidance application mayperform a media guidance function based on the contact and/or action.

For example, the media guidance application may determine that a user ismaking contact with (e.g., touches, swipes, pinches, etc.) the walland/or a particular area associated with a holographic interface. Basedon this user interaction (e.g., associated with changing a channel in aholographic media guide), the media guidance application may modify theholographic media content in ways corresponding to the contact the usermade with the wall (e.g., by changing the channel in the holographicmedia guide). In another example, the media guidance application maypresent a media playlist. The media playlist may be modified (e.g.,media assets may be added and/or removed) based on user interactions.For example, the media guidance application may receive a userinteraction (e.g., a “pinch” hand motion followed by a “toss” handmotion) that indicates that a first user (e.g., associated with a firstholographic interface) wishes to share a song in the holographic mediaplaylist with a second user (e.g., associated with a second holographicinterface). In response, the media guidance application may instruct thesecond holographic interface to present a listing of the song in aholographic media playlist at the second holographic interface.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine aplurality of acceptable user interactions associated with the selectionof a portion of holographic media content. For example, the mediaguidance application may recognize only a particular set of userinteractions (e.g., in order to reduce false positives).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select anotherholographic interface based on other criteria. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive a user input identifying a userauthorized to view a portion of the holographic media content. If themedia guidance application determines the second holographic interfaceis associated with the user authorized to view the portion of theholographic media content, the media guidance application then selects asecond holographic interface.

In some embodiments, identifying a location and a display device at thatlocation may be synonymous. For example, a media guidance applicationmay retrieve a listing (e.g., from a device profile associated with alocation) of one or more devices associated with the location.Furthermore, in some embodiments, when a user interacts with aholographic structure, the media guidance application may transmitidentification information to display devices that may present varioustypes of media content as well as the location of the display devices.The media guidance application may use any received/retrievedinformation about a display device and/or a location to select aparticular display device and/or location.

FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to provideholographic media content. In some embodiments, a user may indicate adesire to access content information by selecting a selectable optionprovided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, a listings option, anicon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicated button (e.g., a GUIDEbutton) on a remote control or other user input interface or device. Inresponse to the user's indication, the media guidance application mayprovide a display screen with media guidance data organized in one ofseveral ways, such as by time and channel in a grid, by time, bychannel, by source, by content type, by category (e.g., movies, sports,news, children, or other categories of programming), or otherpredefined, user-defined, or other organization criteria on one or moreuser optical devices. The organization of the media guidance data isdetermined by guidance application data. As referred to herein, thephrase, “guidance application data” should be understood to mean dataused in operating the guidance application, such as program information,guidance application settings, user preferences, or user profileinformation.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid program listings display 100 arranged bytime and channel that also enables access to different types of contentin a single display. In some embodiments, display 100 may appear to auser as holographic media content. For example, a media guidanceapplication may generate a presentation of display 100 as a threedimensional shape (e.g., a cube), in which display 100 appears on one ofmore faces of the shape.

Display 100 may include grid 102 with: (1) a column of channel/contenttype identifiers 104, where each channel/content type identifier (whichis a cell in the column) identifies a different channel or content typeavailable; and (2) a row of time identifiers 106, where each timeidentifier (which is a cell in the row) identifies a time block ofprogramming. Grid 102 also includes cells of program listings, such asprogram listing 108, where each listing provides the title of theprogram provided on the listing's associated channel and time. With auser input device, a user can select program listings by movinghighlight region 110. Information relating to the program listingselected by highlight region 110 may be provided in program informationregion 112. Region 112 may include, for example, the program title, theprogram description, the time the program is provided (if applicable),the channel the program is on (if applicable), the program's rating, andother desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g., FTP).

Grid 102 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 114, recorded content listing 116, andInternet content listing 118. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 100 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 102. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 120.)

Display 100 may also include video region 122, advertisement 124, andoptions region 126. Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/orpreview programs that are currently available, will be available, orwere available to the user. The content of video region 122 maycorrespond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid 102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referredto as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and theirfunctionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat.No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included inother media guidance application display screens of the embodimentsdescribed herein.

Advertisement 124 may provide an advertisement for content that,depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscriptionprogramming), is currently available for viewing, will be available forviewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, andmay correspond to, or be unrelated to, one or more of the contentlistings in grid 102. Advertisement 124 may also be for products orservices related, or unrelated, to the content displayed in grid 102.Advertisement 124 may be selectable and provide further informationabout content, provide information about a product or a service, enablepurchasing of content, a product, or a service, provide content relatingto the advertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 may be targeted based on auser's profile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of displayprovided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.

While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped,advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and locationin a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may beprovided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. Inaddition, advertisements may be overlaid over content or a guidanceapplication display or embedded within a display. Advertisements mayalso include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other typesof content described above. Advertisements may be stored in a userequipment device having a guidance application, in a database connectedto the user equipment, in a remote location (including streaming mediaservers), or on other storage means, or a combination of theselocations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application isdiscussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2003/0110499, filed Jan. 17, 2003; Ward, IIIet al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004; and Schein et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will beappreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidanceapplication display screens of the embodiments described herein.

Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 126 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidanceapplications the user accesses, from other interactive applications theuser accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.),and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that themedia guidance application may access. As a result, a user can beprovided with a unified guidance application experience across theuser's different user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 4. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2. Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable options 202 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 200, selectable option 204 isselected, thus providing listings 206, 208, 210, and 212 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 200 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 208 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 214 and text portion 216.Media portion 214 and/or text portion 216 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 islarger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Dec. 29, 2005,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access holographic media content and the media guidanceapplication (and its display screens described above and below) from oneor more of their user equipment devices. For example, a user may accessholographic media content and the media guidance application from one ormore holographic interfaces. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 300, which may in some embodimentsconstitute a holographic interface, a device capable of presenting aholographic structure to a user, and/or a device capable of implementinga media guidance application. More specific implementations of userequipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 4. Userequipment device 300 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 304, which includesprocessing circuitry 306 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 302. I/O path 302 may connect control circuitry 304 (andspecifically processing circuitry 306) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 306. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 308). Specifically, control circuitry 304 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 304 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 304 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above-mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 4). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Control circuitry 304 may also perform multiple computations in order todetermine a trajectory as described herein and/or to determine one ormore locations. For example, using standard mathematical calculationsthe media guidance application may determine the direction and distancebetween two locations.

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 thatis part of control circuitry 304. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 308 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance information, described above, and guidance application data,described above. Storage 308 may be used to store various types ofcontent described herein as well as media guidance data and guidanceapplication data that are described above. Nonvolatile memory may alsobe used (e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions).Cloud-based storage, described in relation to FIG. 4, may be used tosupplement storage 308 or instead of storage 308.

In some embodiments, storage 308 may include coordinates of one or morelocations and/or display devices. For example, the media guidanceapplication may access storage 308 when determining where a displaydevice for presenting a selected media asset is located. In anotherexample, storage 308 may indicate what display devices are available ata particular location (e.g., when the media guidance application isselecting among a plurality of display devices.

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 308 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 308.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 304 using user inputinterface 310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces.

In some embodiments, user input interface may be incorporated into userequipment device 300 or may be incorporated into another deviceaccessible by user equipment device 300. For example, if user equipmentdevice 300 is a user optical device, surface space limitation mayprevent user input interface from recognizing one or more input types.In such case, user input interface 310 may be implemented on a separatedevice that is accessible to control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)).

Display 312 may be provided as heads-up display for user equipmentdevice 300. In some embodiments, if user equipment device 300 is a useroptical device configured as headwear, display 312 may constitute a lensor similar feature of the headwear. In some embodiments, display 312 maybe one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display(LCD) for a mobile device, or any other suitable equipment fordisplaying visual images generated by the media guidance applicationwhile also allowing a user to see physically existing objects withinhis/her field of vision. In some embodiments, display 312 may beHDTV-capable. In some embodiments, display 312 may include holographicand/or 3D display properties, and the interactive media guidanceapplication and any suitable content may be displayed in hologramsand/or 3D. A video card or graphics card may generate the output to thedisplay 312. The video card may offer various functions such asaccelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4decoding, TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors. Thevideo card may be any processing circuitry described above in relationto control circuitry 304. The video card may be integrated with thecontrol circuitry 304. Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated withother elements of user equipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units.The audio component of videos and other content displayed on display 312may be played through speakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio maybe distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes and outputsthe audio via speakers 314.

Display 312 may be provided as a stand-alone device or integrated withother elements of user equipment device 300. For example, display 312may be a touchscreen or touch-sensitive display. In such circumstances,user input interface 310 may be integrated with or combined with display312. Display 312 may be one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquidcrystal display (LCD) for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display,low temperature poly silicon display, electronic ink display,electrophoretic display, active matrix display, electro-wetting display,electrofluidic display, cathode ray tube display, light-emitting diodedisplay, electroluminescent display, plasma display panel,high-performance addressing display, thin-film transistor display,organic light-emitting diode display, surface-conductionelectron-emitter display (SED), laser television, carbon nanotubes,quantum dot display, interferometric modulator display, or any othersuitable equipment for displaying visual images.

User equipment device 300 may also incorporate or be accessible todetection module 316. Detection module 316 may further include variouscomponents (e.g., a video detection component, an audio detectioncomponent, object recognition component, etc.). In some embodiments,detection module 316 may include components that are specialized togenerate particular information (e.g., determining whether or not a useris interacting with holographic media content, etc.).

In some embodiments, detection module 316 may include a contentrecognition component. The content recognition component may use objectrecognition techniques such as edge detection, pattern recognition,including, but not limited to, self-learning systems (e.g., neuralnetworks), optical character recognition, on-line character recognition(including but not limited to dynamic character recognition, real-timecharacter recognition, intelligent character recognition), and/or anyother suitable technique or method to identify objects (e.g., handsassociated with a user) within a proximity of holographic media contentand/or a holographic interface.

In some embodiments, detection module 316 may also incorporate or haveaccess to a global positioning module. Using the global positioningmodule, detection module 316 may define the coordinates of holographicmedia content and/or a display device. Based on this information, themedia guidance application may determine the coordinates that correspondto the holographic media content and a user. For example, if thecoordinates associated with a holographic media content and a useroverlap, the media guidance application may determine that the user isperforming a user interaction with the holographic media content. Inanother example, the media guidance application may receive GPScoordinates associated with where a holographic structure appears to auser (e.g., a first location) and where a display device is location(e.g., a second location). The media guidance application may use thedifferent sets of coordinates to determine trajectory of a holographicanimation.

The media application may receive data in the form of a video fromdetection module 316. The video may correspond to the direction that auser optical device is currently pointed. Furthermore, the video maycover the entire field of vision of the user. The video may include aseries of frames. For each frame of the video, the media application mayuse a content recognition module or algorithm to determine the objects(e.g., hands of a user) in the frame. Detection module 316 may alsodetermine the bounds of each detected object and describe those boundsin terms of global positioning coordinates retrieved from the globalpositioning module. The detected objects and the coordinates for thoseobjects may then be sent to control circuitry 304 to determine whetheror not those bounds correspond to the bounds of holographic mediacontent generated for display by a holographic interface.

The media guidance application may then match the coordinates definingthe bounds of the holographic media content that is presented to thecoordinates of the bounds of the object. Furthermore, the media guidanceapplication may determine a position of the user and adjust theholographic media content based on the position of the user (e.g.,ensuring that the holographic media content reacts appropriately to userinteractions). For example, detection module 316 may determine a user isperforming a twisting motion with his hands within the proximity of theholographic media content. Accordingly, the media guidance applicationmay cause the holographic media content to rotate in the direction ofthe twisting motion.

In some embodiments, detection module 316 may include an eye contactdetection component, which determines or receives a location upon whichone or both of a user's eyes are focused (e.g., as discussed below inrelation to FIG. 7). The location upon which a user's eyes are focusedis referred to herein as the user's “gaze point.” In some embodiments,the eye contact detection component may monitor one or both eyes of auser of user equipment 300 to identify a gaze point at a position ondisplay 312 for the user. The eye contact detection component mayadditionally or alternatively determine whether one or both eyes of theuser are focused on a position associated holographic media content(e.g., indicating that a user is focusing on a particular portion of theholographic media content) or focused on a location that is notassociated with the holographic media content. In some embodiments, theeye contact detection component includes one or more sensors thattransmit data to processing circuitry 306, which determines a user'sgaze point. The eye contact detection component may be integrated withother elements of user equipment device 300, or the eye contactdetection component, or any other component of detection module 316, andmay be a separate device or system in communication with user equipmentdevice 300.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone application whollyimplemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage308), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 304 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 308 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 304 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 310. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 310 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 300. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 304 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 304) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 300. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 300.Equipment device 300 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 310 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 300 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 310.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 300 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user equipment 402, first holographic interface 404, secondholographic interface 406, or any other type of user equipment suitablefor presenting/accessing holographic media content, such as anon-portable gaming machine. For simplicity, these devices may bereferred to herein collectively as user equipment or user equipmentdevices, and may be substantially similar to user equipment devicesdescribed above. User equipment devices, on which a media guidanceapplication may be implemented, may function as a stand-alone device ormay be part of a network of devices. Various network configurations ofdevices may be implemented and are discussed in more detail below.

In some embodiments, user equipment 402 device and first holographicinterface 404 or second holographic interface 406 utilizing at leastsome of the system features described above in connection with FIG. 3may not be classified solely as user equipment or user optical devices.For example, in some embodiments, user equipment or holographicinterfaces may act like television equipment (e.g., include a tunerallowing for access to television programming) and user computerequipment (e.g., be Internet-enabled allowing for access to Internetcontent). The media guidance application may have the same layout onvarious different types of user equipment or may be tailored to thedisplay capabilities of the user equipment. For example, on usercomputer equipment, the guidance application may be provided as a website accessed by a web browser. In another example, the guidanceapplication may be scaled down for wireless user communications devices(e.g., smartphones). If a user device is not capable of presentingholographic media content, the media guidance application may presentsubstitute content instead. Additionally or alternatively, if a userdevice is capable of presenting holographic media content, the mediaguidance application may present holographic media content as a default.

In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user equipment 402,first holographic interface 404, second holographic interface 406) maybe referred to as a “second screen device.” For example, a second screendevice may supplement content presented on a first user equipmentdevice. The content presented on the second screen device may be anysuitable content that supplements the content presented on the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.allrovi.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414.Namely, user equipment 402, first holographic interface 404, and secondholographic interface 406 are coupled to communications network 414 viacommunications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively. Communicationsnetwork 414 may be one or more networks including the Internet, a mobilephone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a 4G or LTE network),cable network, public switched telephone network, or other types ofcommunications network or combinations of communications networks. Paths408, 410, and 412 may separately or together include one or morecommunications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, acable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g., IPTV),free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wireless signals),or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 412 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 it is awireless path and paths 408 and 410 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 414.

System 400 includes content source 416 and media guidance data source418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths 420and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410,and 412. Communications with the content source 416 and media guidancedata source 418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 416 and 418 withuser equipment 402, first holographic interface 404, and secondholographic interface 406 are shown as through communications network414, in some embodiments, sources 416 and 418 may communicate directlywith user equipment 402, first holographic interface 404, and secondholographic interface 406 via communication paths (not shown) such asthose described above in connection with paths 408, 410, and 412.

Content source 416 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 416 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 416 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 416 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance application datamay be provided to the user equipment devices using any suitableapproach. In some embodiments, the guidance application may be astand-alone interactive television program guide that receives programguide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed).Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to theuser equipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-banddigital signal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any othersuitable data transmission technique. Program schedule data and othermedia guidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analogor digital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 418may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 418 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 418 mayprovide user equipment 402, first holographic interface 404, and secondholographic interface 406 the media guidance application itself orsoftware updates for the media guidance application.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 308, and executedby control circuitry 304 of a user equipment device 300. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device 300and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 418) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 418), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 418 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment 402,first holographic interface 404, and second holographic interface 406may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT content delivery allowsInternet-enabled user devices, including any user equipment devicedescribed above, to receive content that is transferred over theInternet, including any content described above, in addition to contentreceived over cable or satellite connections. OTT content is deliveredvia an Internet connection provided by an Internet service provider(ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP may not beresponsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, or redistribution ofthe content, and may only transfer IP packets provided by the OTTcontent provider. Examples of OTT content providers include YOUTUBE,NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IP packets. Youtubeis a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is a trademark owned byNetflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu, LLC. OTT contentproviders may additionally or alternatively provide media guidance datadescribed above. In addition to content and/or media guidance data,providers of OTT content can distribute media guidance applications(e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications), or thecontent can be displayed by media guidance applications stored on theuser equipment device.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 4.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 414.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 416 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user equipment 402, first holographic interface 404, and secondholographic interface 406 may access the media guidance application tonavigate among and locate desirable content. Users may also access themedia guidance application outside of the home using first holographicinterface 404, and they may also use second holographic interface 406 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 414. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 416 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 418. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser equipment 402, first holographic interface 404, and secondholographic interface 406. For example, the other user equipment devicesmay provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamed video. Insuch embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in a peer-to-peermanner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service in the cloud either directly, forexample, from user equipment 402, first holographic interface 404, orsecond holographic interface 406, or, alternatively, the user can firsttransfer the content to a user equipment device, such as user equipment402, first holographic interface 404, or second holographic interface406. The user equipment device storing the content uploads the contentto the cloud using a data transmission service on communications network414. In some embodiments, the user equipment device itself is a cloudresource, and other user equipment devices can access the contentdirectly from the user equipment device on which the user stored thecontent.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an illustrative example of a viewing area featuring aholographic animation moving along a trajectory towards a displaydevice. For example, viewing area 500 includes holographic structure506. Holographic structure 506 may be generated for display by aholographic interface (e.g., first holographic interface 404 (FIG. 4))such as a pair of smart glasses worn by user 502.

Holographic structure 506 may also include one or more portions. Forexample, each portion (e.g., such as portion 510) may correspond to aparticular media asset that is available to a user for consumption ondisplay device 508 (e.g., which may corresponds to user equipment 402(FIG. 4)). Furthermore, in response to detecting a user interaction withholographic structure 506 (e.g., selecting portion 510), the mediaguidance application may perform a media guidance function such asgenerating for display a holographic animation associated with portion510 (or a media asset associated with portion 510).

Viewing area 550 illustrates a situation after a user has selectedportion 510 for display on display device 508. For example, in responseto detecting (e.g., via detection module 316 (FIG. 3)) that a user(e.g., user 502) executed a hand motion (e.g., a throwing, sliding,flicking, etc., motion) selecting portion 510, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display holographic animation 504.Furthermore, the media guidance application has selected a particularholographic animation (e.g., holographic animation 504) that isassociated with the portion 510 (or a media asset associated withportion 510).

For example, portion 510 is associated with a media asset related totrees. Accordingly, the media guidance application has generated fordisplay holographic animation 504, which resembles tree leaves “blowing”from holographic structure 506 to display device 508. In addition togenerating for display holographic animation 504, the media guidance hasdetermined a trajectory for holographic animation 504. The trajectorymay form a path along which holographic animation moves. Furthermore,the trajectory may be specific to the holographic animation. Forexample, holographic animation 504 includes a plurality of blowingleaves. Therefore, the trajectory of holographic animation 504 is not alinear route, but instead a non-linear route that resembles a routeleaves would take while blowing in the wind.

FIG. 6 is an illustrative example of a user interaction selecting aportion of holographic media content. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may select the portion of a holographic structure(e.g., holographic structure 506 (FIG. 5)) based on a user inputdefining geometric bounds of the portion of the holographic structure.For example, the media guidance application may receive a hand motionfrom a user virtually tracing a portion of the holographic structure asit is presented by a holographic interface (e.g., first holographicinterface 404 (FIG. 4)) or as it appears through a user optical device.

In FIG. 6, user 606 is manually selecting portion 604 (as opposed toportion 608) of holographic structure 602. For example, by selectingpoints about holographic structure 602, user 606 may select one or moreportions of holographic media content for performing media guidancefunctions upon (e.g., such as playing back a related media asset on adisplay device).

For example, a media guidance application may incorporate and/or haveaccess to a detection module (e.g., detection module 316 (FIG. 3)) thatmay determine coordinates (e.g., x, y, and z spatial coordinates and/orany other suitable coordinate system) associated with a userinteraction. The coordinates may then be used by the media guidanceapplication (e.g., processed by processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3)) todetermine the bounds of the portion of the holographic media contentthat was selected by the user.

For example, in response to a determining a set of coordinates, themedia guidance application may generate a set of connections between thecoordinates that form the borders of the holographic media content. Insome embodiments, the connections may take the form of straight lines,curves, etc., between the points. Alternatively or additionally, theconnections may be adjusted based on the holographic media content nearthe connection. For example, if two points are selected near a bound ofholographic media content (e.g., portion 604) within holographicstructure 602, the media guidance application may adjust the curvatureof the connection between the points based on holographic media contentnear the connection. For example, the media guidance application mayautomatically generate a connection that maintains a constant distancefrom a bound of the holographic media content.

For example, if a particular portion of holographic media contentcorresponds to x, y coordinates of (0, 4), (4, 0), (4, 8) and a userselects points corresponding to (0, 4) and (4, 8), the media guidanceapplication may automatically select (e.g., via processing circuitry 306(FIG. 3)), point (4, 0) as a bound to the portion of the holographicmedia content selected by the user.

After the media guidance application may determine one or more portionsof a media guidance application have been selected, the media guidanceapplication may receive (e.g., via a user interaction from user 606) amedia guidance function to perform on the selected portion. For example,the media guidance application may receive a pinch-and-expand motioncausing the media guidance application to generate for display azoomed-in version of the holographic media content. In another example,the media guidance application may receive an input via user inputinterface (e.g., user input interface 310 (FIG. 3)) that causes themedia guidance application to generate a holographic animation thatmoves towards a display device. For example, the media guidanceapplication may execute commands (e.g., related to media guidancefunctions) in response to user interactions detected (e.g., viadetection module 316 (FIG. 3)) near one or more portions of aholographic structure or may execute commands in response to user inputsreceived via a user device that are not holographic interfaces.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect atrajectory associated with a user interaction (e.g., performed by user606) by monitoring the path and velocity associated with the userinteraction (e.g., the movement of a hand of a user while the hand iswithin a predetermined proximity to holographic structure 602). Based onthe trajectory and the user interaction, the media guidance applicationmay select components of a holographic animation associated with theselection or other media guidance functions. For example, the mediaguidance application may cross-reference the detected user interaction(e.g., detected via detection module 316 (FIG. 3)) with a databaselisting media guidance functions associated with different userinteractions. For example, in response to a pinching motion, the mediaguidance application may determine to zoom a portion of holographicstructure 602. In contrast, in response to a throwing, sliding, pushing,flicking, etc., motion, the media guidance application may determine togenerate for display a holographic animation. Furthermore, thecomponents (e.g., velocity, direction, etc.) of the user interaction mayinfluence the holographic animation.

For example, the media guidance application may determine which of theone or more display devices to use to present a media asset associatedwith the selected portion based on the direction and/or speed of theuser interaction. For example, if a trajectory of a user interaction isassociated with a direction and/or angle, the media guidance applicationmay select one or more display devices in response to determining thatthe one or more display devices are also associated with the samedirection and/or angle. For example, if the media guidance applicationdetermines that the user interaction (e.g., as it passes nearholographic structure 602) moved from left to right, the media guidanceapplication may select a display device to the right of holographicstructure 602. In contrast, if the media guidance application determinesthat the user interaction (e.g., as it passes near holographic structure602) moved from right to left, the media guidance application may selecta display device to the left of holographic structure 602.

Additionally or alternatively, if the media guidance applicationdetermines that the user interaction (e.g., as it passes nearholographic structure 602) had a high velocity (e.g., associated with aforceful user interaction), the media guidance application may select adisplay device a farther distance away relative to holographic structure602. In contrast, if the media guidance application determines that theuser interaction (e.g., as it passes near holographic structure 602) hada low velocity (e.g., associated with a weak user interaction), themedia guidance application may select a display device only a shortdistance away relative to holographic structure 602.

Upon detecting that a user interaction is affecting holographicstructure 602, the media guidance application may also modify thepresentation of holographic structure 602. For example, in response to auser interaction associated with pursuing a series of holographic filefolders (e.g., when holographic structure 602 resembles a filingcabinet), the media guidance application may cause holographic structure602 to move accordingly. Additionally or alternatively, in response to auser interaction associated with a pushing motion (e.g., pushing adrawer of a filing cabinet closed), the media guidance application maylaterally translate one or more portions of holographic structure 602.Based on the translation, holographic structure 602 may featuredifferent portions (e.g., each of which may correspond to differentmedia assets).

In some embodiments, the trajectory of a user interaction may alsoaffect the trajectory of a holographic animation (e.g., holographicanimation 504 (FIG. 5)). For example, when the media guidanceapplication determines (e.g., via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3)) atrajectory associated with a user interaction, the media guidanceapplication may determine one or more components of the trajectory. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine a direction,distance, speed, etc., associated with the user interaction. The mediaguidance application may then search for a holographic animation (ormodify a holographic animation) based on the determined components).

For example, the media guidance application may determine a speedassociated with a user interaction selecting portion 604. The mediaguidance application may then cross-reference the speed with a databaseassociated with holographic animations associated with portion 604 todetermine a holographic animation that corresponds to portion 604 at thedetermined speed. Alternatively or additionally, the media guidanceapplication may modify the speed of a holographic animation associatedwith portion 604 to match the speed of the user interaction.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select a portionof holographic structure in response to determining a user is focusingon a portion of the holographic structure 602. For example, the mediaguidance application may monitor a location where the eyes of a user arefocusing and automatically select the portion of the holographic mediacontent associated with that location. For example, as discussed belowin relation to FIG. 7, the media guidance application may include an eyecontact detection component, which determines or receives a locationupon which one or both of a user's eyes are focused.

Additionally or alternatively, the media guidance application mayassociate the coordinates within a holographic structure (e.g.,holographic structure 602) to a particular media asset. Thesecoordinates may be represented to the user as a particular portion(e.g., portion 604). Thus, the particular portion may be designed toappear to the user as content or subject matter associated with themedia asset. For example, the portion 604 is associated with a mediaasset entitled “Trees.” Thus, the portion 604 resembles a tree.Likewise, portion 608 is associated with a media asset entitled “TheBubble.” In this case, portion 608 may resemble box art or a movieposter that is associated with the media asset and that displays thetitle of the media asset.

FIG. 7 is an illustrative example of one component of a detection module(e.g., detection module 316 (FIG. 3)), which may be accessed by a mediaguidance application in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. FIG. 7 shows eye contact detection component 700, which maybe used to identify the gaze point of a user of user equipment 300 (FIG.3)), in order to determine whether or not a user is focusing on aparticular portion of a holographic structure. For example, the locationupon which a user's eyes are focused may determine whether or not themedia guidance application selects one portion (e.g., portion 604 (FIG.6)) of a holographic structure (e.g., holographic structure 602 (FIG.6)) over another. For example, eye contact detection component 700 maydetermine whether one or both eyes of the user are focused on a positionrelative to a holographic structure.

Eye contact detection component 700 includes processor 702, light source704, and optical sensor 706. Light source 704 transmits light thatreaches at least one eye of a user, and optical sensor 706 is directedat the user to sense reflected light. Optical sensor 706 transmitscollected data to processor 702, and based on the data received fromoptical sensor 706, processor 702 determines a user's gaze point.

In some embodiments, eye contact detection component 700 is configuredfor determining a gaze point of a single user. In other embodiments, eyecontact detection component 700 may determine gaze points for aplurality of users. Eye contact detection component 700 may alsoidentify multiple users of user devices (e.g., user equipment device 300(FIG. 3)). For example, eye contact detection component 700 maydetermine the one or more portions upon which a plurality of users abouta holographic structure (e.g., holographic structure 602 (FIG. 6)) arefocusing.

Processor 702 may be integrated with one or more light sources 704 andone or more optical sensors 706 in a single device. Additionally oralternatively, one or more light sources 704 and one or more opticalsensors 706 may be housed separately from processor 702 and in wirelessor wired communication with processor 702. One or more of processors702, light sources 704, and optical sensors 706 may be integrated into auser device (e.g., user equipment device 300 (FIG. 3), holographicstructure 602 (FIG. 6A), etc.).

Processor 702 may be similar to processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3)described above. In some embodiments, processor 702 may be processingcircuitry 306 (FIG. 3), with processing circuitry 306 in communicationwith light source 704 and optical sensor 706. In other embodiments,processor 702 may be separate from but optionally in communication withprocessing circuitry 306.

Light source 704 transmits light to one or both eyes of one or moreusers. Light source 704 may emit, for example, infrared (IR) light, nearinfrared light, or visible light. The light emitted by light source 704may be collimated or non-collimated. The light is reflected in a user'seye, forming, for example, the reflection from the outer surface of thecornea (i.e., a first Purkinje image), the reflection from the innersurface of the cornea (i.e., a second Purkinje image), the reflectionfrom the outer (anterior) surface of the lens (i.e., a third Purkinjeimage), and/or the reflection from the inner (posterior) surface of thelens (i.e., a fourth Purkinje image).

Optical sensor 706 collects visual information, such as an image orseries of images, of one or both of one or more users' eyes. Opticalsensor 706 transmits the collected image(s) to processor 702, whichprocesses the received image(s) to identify a glint (i.e., cornealreflection) and/or other reflection in one or both eyes of one or moreusers. Processor 702 may also determine the location of the center ofthe pupil of one or both eyes of one or more users. For each eye,processor 702 may compare the location of the pupil to the location ofthe glint and/or other reflection to estimate the gaze point. Processor702 may also store or obtain information describing the location of oneor more light sources 704 and/or the location of one or more opticalsensors 706 relative to a holographic structure (e.g., holographicstructure 602 (FIG. 6)). Using this information, processor 702 maydetermine a user's gaze point on a portion of a holographic structure(e.g., holographic structure 602 (FIG. 6)), or processor 702 maydetermine whether or not a user's gaze point is at a particular portionof a holographic structure (e.g., holographic structure 602 (FIG. 6)).

In some embodiments, eye contact detection component 700 performs bestif the position of a user's head is fixed or relatively stable. In otherembodiments, eye contact detection component 700 is configured toaccount for a user's head movement, which allows the user a more naturalviewing experience than if the user's head were fixed in a particularposition.

In some embodiments accounting for a user's head movement, eye contactdetection component 700 includes two or more optical sensors 706. Forexample, two cameras may be arranged to form a stereo vision system forobtaining a 3D position of the user's eye or eyes; this allows processor702 to compensate for head movement when determining the user's gazepoint. The two or more optical sensors 706 may be part of a single unitor may be separate units. For example, a user device (e.g., userequipment device 300 (FIG. 3)) may include two cameras used as opticalsensors 706, or eye contact detection component 700 in communicationwith the user device (e.g., user equipment device 300 (FIG. 3)) mayinclude two optical sensors 706. In other embodiments, each of the userdevice (e.g., user equipment device 300 (FIG. 3)) and eye contactdetection component 700 may include an optical sensor, and processor 702receives image data from the optical sensor of the user device and theoptical sensor of eye contact detection component 700. Processor 702 mayreceive data identifying the location of optical sensor 706 relative toa holographic structure (e.g., holographic structure 602 (FIG. 6))and/or relative to other optical sensors and use this information whendetermining the gaze point.

In other embodiments accounting for a user's head movement, eye contactdetection component 700 includes two or more light sources forgenerating multiple glints. For example, two light sources 704 maycreate glints at different locations of an eye; having information onthe two glints allows the processor to determine a 3D position of theuser's eye or eyes, allowing processor 702 to compensate for headmovement. Processor 702 may also receive data identifying the locationof light sources 704 relative to a holographic structure (e.g.,holographic structure 602 (FIG. 6)) and/or relative to other opticalsensors and use this information when determining the gaze point.

In some embodiments, other types of eye contact detection componentsthat do not utilize a light source may be used. For example, opticalsensor 706 and processor 702 may track other features of a user's eye,such as the retinal blood vessels or other features inside or on thesurface of the user's eye, and follow these features as the eye rotates.Any other equipment or method for determining one or more users' gazepoint(s) not discussed above may be used in addition to or instead ofthe above-described embodiments of eye contact detection component 700.

It should be noted that eye contact detection component 700 is but onetype of component that may be incorporated into or accessible bydetection module 316 (FIG. 3) or the media guidance application. Othertypes of components, which may generate other types of data (e.g.,video, audio, textual, etc.) are fully within the bounds of thisdisclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for instructing a secondholographic interface to generate for display a portion of theholographic media content. It should be noted that process 800 or anystep thereof could be performed on, or provided by, any of the devicesshown in FIGS. 3-4. For example, process 800 may be executed by controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3) as instructed by a media guidance applicationimplemented on user equipment 402, first holographic interface 404,and/or second holographic interface 406 (FIG. 4) in order to presentholographic animations (e.g., holographic animation 504 (FIG. 5)). Inaddition, one or more steps of process 800 may be incorporated into orcombined with one or more steps of any other process or embodiment(e.g., process 900 (FIG. 9)).

At step 802, the media guidance application generates for displayholographic media content at a first location. For example, as describedabove, the media guidance application may receive a user input via aninterface (e.g., user input interface 310 (FIG. 3)) associated with thefirst holographic interface (e.g., first holographic interface 404 (FIG.4)). In some embodiments, the user input may be received via a displayscreen (e.g., display 200 (FIG. 2)) or via a user interaction (e.g., asdescribed in relation to FIGS. 5-6)) about a holographic structure(e.g., holographic structure 602. For example, the first holographicmedia interface may include first holographic interface circuitry (e.g.,incorporated into and/or coupled to control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3))configured to generate for display holographic media content at a firstlocation. The media guidance application may instruct (e.g., via controlcircuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) the first holographic media interface togenerate for display holographic media content by issuing instructionsto the first holographic interface circuitry.

At step 804, the media guidance application detects a user interactionat the first location selecting a portion of the holographic mediacontent. For example, the media guidance application may detect (e.g.,via detection module 316 (FIG. 3)) a user interaction (e.g., a throwingmotion, a flicking motion, and/or other user motion mimicking contactwith holographic media content) that indicates a user selection. Forexample, the media guidance application may receive informationindicating (e.g., at control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3) from detectionmodule circuitry) that a user interaction was detected at the firstlocation selecting a portion (e.g., portion 604 (FIG. 6)) of theholographic media content.

At step 806, the media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) a media asset associated with theselected portion. For example, the media guidance application maycross-reference the selected portion in a database (e.g., located atstorage 308 (FIG. 3) and/or any location accessible via communicationsnetwork 414 (FIG. 4)) listing media assets associated with variousportions of the holographic media content to determine one or more mediaassets associated with the selected portion.

At step 808, the media guidance application cross-references (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) the media asset with a database (e.g.,located at storage 308 (FIG. 3) and/or any location accessible viacommunications network 414 (FIG. 4)) listing holographic animationsassociated with various media assets to determine a holographicanimation associated with the media asset. For example, each media assetmay correspond to a unique animation, in which the unique animation isbased on the content of the media asset. Alternatively or additionally,in response to a selection (e.g., received via user input interface 310(FIG. 3) and/or the detection of a user interaction via detection module316 (FIG. 3)) of a portion associated with a particular media asset, themedia guidance application may reference (e.g., via control circuitry304 (FIG. 3)) a look-up table database (e.g., located at storage 308(FIG. 3) and/or any location accessible via communications network 414(FIG. 4)) listing characters within that media asset. The media guidanceapplication may then generate for display an animation featuring thecharacter.

At step 810, the media guidance application determines (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3)) a trajectory for the holographicanimation (e.g., holographic animation 504 (FIG. 5)) from the firstlocation (e.g., holographic structure 506 FIG. 5)) to a second location,in which the second location includes a display device for presentingthe media asset to a user. For example, after selecting a holographicanimation, the media guidance application may determine a path alongwhich the animation should travel. In some embodiments, thedetermination may include computing various components associated withthe trajectory as well as any variations in the routes to a selecteddisplay device. For example, the media guidance application may receiveone or more components regarding the user interaction and or thedistance, direction, etc. to a selected display device. The mediaguidance application may then plot (e.g., via control circuitry 304(FIG. 3)) a course from the first location to the second location.

At step 812, the media guidance application generates for display aholographic animation along the trajectory. For example, upon plotting acourse for a holographic animation to travel and, after determining aparticular holographic animation to generate for display, the mediaguidance application (e.g., via control circuitry 304 (FIG. 3))generates for display a holographic animation along the trajectory. Forexample, the media guidance application may use the same holographicinterface used to generate the holographic media content to present theholographic animation. Alternatively or additionally, the media guidanceapplication may user other devices (e.g., other holographic interfacesand/or optical user devices) to present the holographic animation.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 8 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 8 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-6B could beused to perform one of more of the steps in FIG. 8.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for selecting a path of aholographic animation based on components of a trajectory associatedwith the user interaction and components of a trajectory associated withthe location of a display device. It should be noted that process 900 orany step thereof could be performed on, or provided by, any of thedevices shown in FIGS. 3-4. For example, process 900 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 304 (FIG. 3) as instructed by a media guidanceapplication implemented on user equipment 402, first holographicinterface 404, and/or second holographic interface 406 (FIG. 4) in orderto present holographic media content (e.g., holographic structure 506and/or holographic animation 504 (FIG. 5)). In addition, one or moresteps of process 900 may be incorporated into or combined with one ormore steps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., process 800 (FIG.8)).

At step 902, the media guidance application monitors a holographicinterface for user interactions. For example, the media guidanceapplication implemented on a holographic interface (e.g., firstholographic interface 404 (FIG. 4)) may monitor for one or more userinteractions via a detection module (e.g., detection module 316 (FIG.3)). For example, a detection module incorporated into a user device(e.g., user equipment device 300 (FIG. 3)) and/or accessible by a mediaguidance application may monitor for all user interactions within aparticular proximity to a holographic interface. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may monitor only user interactions withinan area associated with a holographic interface.

At step 904, the media guidance application determines whether or not auser interaction associated with performing a media guidance function isdetected. For example, the media guidance application may determine(e.g., via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3)) whether or not an object(e.g., a hand of a user) virtually touched holographic media content(e.g., holographic structure 506 (FIG. 5)). In some embodiments,determining whether or not a user “touched” the holographic mediacontent may include determining whether or not the position of an object(e.g., the hand) overlapped the coordinates associated with theholographic media content.

For example, the media guidance application may determine (e.g., viadetection module 316 (FIG. 3)) the bounds or spatial coordinatesassociated with a user (or part of a user). The media guidanceapplication may also determine (e.g., via detection module 316 (FIG. 3)and/or processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3)) the bounds or spatialcoordinates associated with holographic media content (e.g., holographicstructure 506 (FIG. 5)). The media guidance application may thendetermine (e.g., via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3)) whether or notspatial coordinates associated with the user and the holographic mediacontent overlap (e.g., indicating that the user is “touching” theholographic media content). If the media guidance application does notdetect a user interaction, the media guidance application returns tostep 902. Alternatively, in response to determining that the spatialcoordinates overlap (e.g., corresponding to a user action associatedwith performing a function), the media guidance application may proceedto step 906.

At step 906, the media guidance application determines whether or not atrajectory is associated with the user interaction. For example, themedia guidance application may classify different user interactions anddetermine particular media guidance functions to perform based on theclassification. In such cases, not all user interactions may beassociated with a trajectory. For example, a user interaction selectinga media listing (e.g., program listing 108 (FIG. 1)) or a selectableoption (e.g., selectable option 204 (FIG. 2)) from a holographic displaymay not be associated with a trajectory. Instead, the movement (e.g.,approaching, but not passing through a position associated withholographic media content) of the user interaction (e.g., as determinedby detection module 316 (FIG. 3)) and/or the type of hand motion (e.g.,replicating the pressing of a touchscreen icon) by a user (e.g., user502 (FIG. 5)) may cause the media guidance application to perform aparticular media function (e.g., present a media asset or menuassociated with the media listing and selectable option, respectively)irrespective of the trajectory associated with the user interaction.

Alternatively, the classification of the user interaction may cause themedia guidance application to determine one or more components of thetrajectory of the user interaction. For example, if the movement (e.g.,approaching and passing through a position associated with holographicmedia content) of the user interaction relative to the holographic mediacontent (e.g., as determined by detection module 316 (FIG. 3)) and/orthe type of hand motion (e.g., replicating the pushing of an object) bya user (e.g., user 606 (FIG. 6B)) may cause the media guidanceapplication to determine one or more components associated with thetrajectory.

If the media guidance application determines that the user interactionis not associated with a trajectory, the media guidance applicationproceeds to step 910. If the media guidance application determines thatthe user interaction is associated with a trajectory, the media guidanceapplication proceeds to step 908. At step 908, the media guidanceapplication determines one or more components associated with thetrajectory. For example, the media guidance application may determine(e.g., via detection module 316 (FIG. 3)) a direction and velocityassociated with a user interaction.

For example, the media guidance application (e.g., via detection module316 (FIG. 3)) may record data (e.g., associated with various components)at various times and locations during a user interaction. For example,when the hand of a user enters a particular proximity to the holographicmedia content, the media guidance application may begin tracking one ormore components (e.g., velocity, direction, etc.) associated with thehand. By taking various measurements during the user interaction, themedia guidance application may develop a data set describing the paththe hand of the user followed during the user interaction as a functionof time. Based on this path, the media guidance application may (e.g.,via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3)) interpolate and plot a projectedtrajectory for the user interaction.

At step 910, the media guidance application determines one or morecomponents of a trajectory associated with a location of display device.For example, after interpolating and plotting a projected trajectory forthe user interaction to determine the particular coordinates with whicha user would like holographic media content shared, the media guidanceapplication may cross-reference the coordinates with a database (e.g.,located locally at storage 308 (FIG. 3)) or remotely at any locationaccessible via communications network 414 (FIG. 4)) to determine one ormore display devices (e.g., display device 508 (FIG. 5)) at thosecoordinates. For example, the media guidance application may receivesignals (e.g., via I/O path 302 (FIG. 3)) from the display devicesindicating their location, associated user, display properties, parentalcontrol, etc. The media guidance application may compare the informationreceived from other display devices to the coordinates of theholographic media content to determine one or more components for thetrajectory associated with the location of the display device.

At step 914, the media guidance application selects a path of aholographic animation based on the one or more components of thetrajectory associated with the user interaction and the one or morecomponents of the trajectory associated with the location of the displaydevice. For example, in response to a user interaction with a particularvelocity and direction, the media guidance application may select (e.g.,via processing circuitry 306 (FIG. 3)) a display device withcorresponding coordinates with which to share the holographic mediacontent. For example, when selecting between display devices (onefurther away than the other) a user interaction with a low velocity maycause the media guidance application to select the closer displaydevice. The media guidance application may then determine thecoordinates of the closer display device. Based on the coordinates, themedia guidance application may determine (e.g., via processing circuitry306 (FIG. 3)) the trajectory needed to reach that display device.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 8 may be usedwith any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps anddescriptions described in relation to FIG. 8 may be done in alternativeorders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. Forexample, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should be noted that anyof the devices or equipment discussed in relation to FIGS. 3-4 could beused to perform one of more of the steps in FIG. 8.

The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are presentedfor purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the presentdisclosure is limited only by the claims which follow. Furthermore, itshould be noted that the features and limitations described in any oneembodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and flowchartsor examples relating to one embodiment may be combined with any otherembodiment in a suitable manner, done in different order, or done inparallel. In addition, the systems and methods described herein may beperformed in real-time. It should also be noted, the systems and/ormethods described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with,other systems and/or methods.

1.-50. (canceled)
 51. A method for detecting a visual focus of a user,comprising: determining that a user is viewing a display device showingvirtual content; capturing, using a sensor, reflected light from atleast one eye of the user; capturing an image depicting a location of aportion of the at least one eye of the user; comparing datacorresponding to the reflected light from the at least one eye and thelocation of the portion of the at least one eye; and determining, basedon the comparing, a visual focus point of the user on a portion of thevirtual content.
 52. The method of claim 51, further comprising:transmitting, from a light source, light to cause the reflected lightfrom the at least one eye of the user; and wherein the reflected lightforms at least one reflection at a surface of the at least one eye ofthe user.
 53. The method of claim 52, wherein the at least onereflection comprises a Purkinje image, and wherein determining theportion of the virtual content comprises: determining, based on alocation of the Purkinje image and the location of the portion of the atleast one eye, the visual focus point of the user.
 54. The method ofclaim 51, further comprising: generating image analysis data of thecaptured image; and determining, based on the image analysis data, thelocation of the portion of the at least one eye.
 55. The method of claim51, wherein the virtual content is a holographic structure generated fordisplay at a location in a physical space.
 56. The method of claim 51,further comprising: in response to determining the visual focus point ofthe user, determining a user interaction to select the portion of thevirtual content.
 57. The method of claim 51, wherein the virtual contentcomprises a plurality of portions, and wherein each portion of theplurality of portions is associated with a different content item. 58.The method of claim 51, further comprising: detecting that the visualfocus point of the user shifts away from the portion of the virtualcontent; and moving the virtual content to account for the shiftedvisual focus point.
 59. The method of claim 51, wherein the sensor is afirst sensor at a first position, further comprising: capturing, using asecond sensor at a second position, the reflected light from the atleast one eye of the user; and combining the data corresponding to thereflected light from the first sensor with data corresponding to thereflected light from the second sensor to compare with the location ofthe portion of the at least one eye.
 60. The method of claim 51, furthercomprising: determining one or more features of the portion of the atleast one eye; and tracking, based on the one or more features, amovement of the at least one eye.
 61. A system for detecting a visualfocus of a user, comprising: a sensor configured to capture light; andcontrol circuitry configured to: determine that a user is viewing adisplay device showing virtual content; cause to capture, using thesensor, reflected light from at least one eye of the user; cause tocapture an image depicting a location of a portion of the at least oneeye of the user; compare data corresponding to the reflected light fromthe at least one eye and the location of the portion of the at least oneeye; and determine, based on comparing the data, a visual focus point ofthe user on a portion of the virtual content.
 62. The system of claim61, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: cause totransmit, from a light source, light to cause the reflected light fromthe at least one eye of the user; and wherein the reflected light formsat least one reflection at a surface of the at least one eye of theuser.
 63. The system of claim 62, wherein the at least one reflectioncomprises a Purkinje image, and wherein the control circuitry, whendetermining the portion of the virtual content, is configured to:determine, based on a location of the Purkinje image and the location ofthe portion of the at least one eye, the visual focus point of the user.64. The system of claim 61, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to: generate image analysis data of the captured image; anddetermine, based on the image analysis data, the location of the portionof the at least one eye.
 65. The system of claim 61, wherein the virtualcontent is a holographic structure generated for display at a locationin a physical space.
 66. The system of claim 61, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured to: in response to determining thevisual focus point of the user, determine a user interaction to selectthe portion of the virtual content.
 67. The system of claim 61, whereinthe virtual content comprises a plurality of portions, and wherein eachportion of the plurality of portions is associated with a differentcontent item.
 68. The system of claim 61, wherein the control circuitryis further configured to: detect that the visual focus point of the usershifts away from the portion of the virtual content; and move thevirtual content to account for the shifted visual focus point.
 69. Thesystem of claim 61, wherein the sensor is a first sensor at a firstposition, and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:cause to capture, using a second sensor at a second position, thereflected light from the at least one eye of the user; and combine thedata corresponding to the reflected light from the first sensor withdata corresponding to the reflected light from the second sensor tocompare with the location of the portion of the at least one eye. 70.The system of claim 61, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to: determine one or more features of the portion of the atleast one eye; and track, based on the one or more features, a movementof the at least one eye.